Roof supports for mines and the like



y 6, 1965 J. GASKELL 3,192,721

. ROOF SUPPORTS FOR MINES AND THE LIKE Filed March 25, 1965 3Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORZ JOSEPH g gs/(5L1.

y 1965 J. GASKELL 3,192,721

ROOF SUPPORTS FOR MINES AND THE LIKE Filed March 25, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet2 JasfPH GASKE'LL BY y 6, 1955 J. GASKELL 3,192,721

ROOF SUPPORTS FOR MINES AND THE LIKE Filed March 25, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet3 FIG? Iii

INVENIORi JOSEPH GASKEL'L BY J4me? ATTORNEYS United States Patent3,192,721 ROOF SUPPORTS FOR MINES AND THE LIKE Joseph Gaskeli, Wigan,England, assignor to Guiiick Limited, Wigan, England, a British companyFiled Mar. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 267,579 Claims priority, application GreatBritain, Apr. 6, 1962, 13,258/ 62 Claims. (Ci. 61-45) This invention isfor improvements in or relating to roof supports for mines and the like.

The invention is particularly concerned with root supports for use inmining systems or methods of the kind in which, after a cut has beenmade, a row of such supports is advanced towards the coal face.

In one arrangement of this nature the supports incorpor-atepressure-fluid devices which serve to push a conveyor over towards thecoal face, after a cut has been made, and the conveyor then serves as ananchorage by which the pressure-fluid devices can be utilised to advancethe supports up to the conveyor.

Alternatively, the support may be of the kind known as walking supports.In this case each support is in two or more parts, each part whensecured between floor and roof serving as an abutment or anchorage toenable a pressure-fluid device or devices, incorporated in the support,to act to move the other part forwardly;

In this case of inclined sea-ms or roadways there is a tendency for thesupports, as they are released from their supporting position betweenfloor and roof, to slide laterally down the incline. One object of thepresent invention is to provide a support or chock with means forcorrecting any such lateral or downhill movement.

According to the present invention there is provided a roof support orchock having a cam or inclined track and follower arrangement adapted asthe support is advanced to correct any objectionable lateral movement ofthe support which has taken place.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention a telescopic member extendsbetween and is pivoted to an anchorage on the support or chock and .ananchorage on the conveyor, this telescopic member having a wedge or likeprofile. -A roller or rollers, carried 'by the support or chock, is orare adapted to engage said wedge profile, the arrangement being suchthat as the chock or support is advanced, towards the conveyor, saidroller or one of the rollers follows the wedge profile and causes anuphill movement of the support or chock so as to correct or negative anydownhill movement it may have made. In other words, during each movementthe chock or support is centralised so that each succeeding position ofit is in correct central alignment with its preceding position.Preferebly the hydraulic or other rams which effect pushing over of theconveyor and then the forward movement of the chock are inclined so thatthey assist the necessary uphill movement of the support or chock.

One particular embodiment of the invention will now be described, by wayof example, with reference to the accompanying semidiagrammatic drawingswherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view showing the position of the parts immediatelyafter the conveyor has been pushed over towards the coal face,

FIGURE 2 is a further plan View showing the position of the parts afterthe support or chock has been partially advanced towards the conveyor,

FIGURE 3 is a further plan view and shows the position of the partsafter the chock or support has been still further advanced towards theconveyor,

FIGURE 4 is a still further plan view and shows the position of thepart-s after the chock or support has been fully advanced up to theconveyor,

3,192,721 Patented July 6, 1965 "ice FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectionalview on the line AA of 'FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 6 is an elevation taken from the rear of FIG- URE 1, and a kFIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a detail of FIGURE 6.

Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawing, 10 indicates the chock or supportwhich it may be assumed consists of a baseplate and a roof bar or canopysupported from the baseplate by a plurality of hydraulically extensibleprops or rams, the arrangement being such that the props are extended soas to secure the chock or support firmly between floor and roof and areretracted when it is required to advance the support.

Mounted one on either side o-fthe lower part of the support 10 arehydraulic rams 11 and 12 having ra-m members proper 13 and 14. The rams1'1 and 12 are mounted on lateral extensions 15 of the base of the chock10 by means of gimbals 16.

The outer ends of the rams proper 13 and 14 are rigidly connectedtogether, as indicated at 1-7, by means of a tie-bar 18 so that thecentre-to-cen-tr-e distance between the vclevises 19 (i.e. the distance2:) remains constant at all times. The clevises 19 are secured totheextremi-ties of the ram members 13 and 14 and embrace an anchoringbar 20 which extends longitudinally of, and is secured to the conveyor Cas shown more particularly in FIGURE 5. a

A telescopic chock centralising member 21, 22 has one of its endspivotally or hingedly attached to the support 1b as indicated at 23 andits other end pivotally or hingediy attached to a block'24 adapted to beadjusted along the tie-bar 1'8 and having means for clamping or lockingit in any position of adjustment. In other wordsflthe dimensions y and zare variable or can be pre-selected. The block 24 carries a clevis 25which also embraces the anchoring bar 20 on the conveyor. Thus, thethree clevises may slide along the conveyor as a complete unit.

The part 22 of the telescopic chock centralising memher 21, 22 hasinclined profiles 26 and '27 adapted to be engaged by roller fol-lowers2-8 and 2? respectively on the chock 1t The chock or support abovedescribed operates as follows:

Normally, i.e. when the conveyor has been pushed over and the chockadvanced and secured between floor and roof ready for a cut to be made,the centralised member 21 and 22 is in a straightahead, i.e. centralposition with respect to the support 10 and the two gimbal-mounted rams11 and 12 may be inclined uphill as shown in FIG- URE 4. The amount ofuphill inclination, if any, of the rams is determined for practicalexperience and from a consideration of the particular face incline.

Following the cut the rams 11 and 12 are fully extended so as to pushover the conveyor to the newly exposed face and as a result thecen-tralising member 21, 22 is also fully extended as shown in FIGURE 1.

It is now necessary to advance the support 10 up to the conveyor. To dothis the support is lowered, so as to release it from between floor androof, and hydraulic pressure is applied to the rams 11 and 12 so as todraw the support 10 forwardly. As a result, and presuming that thesupport is mounted on an incline sloping in a direction from top tobottom of the drawing, after a small amount of forward movement thechock through the action of gravity will slide down hill until theroller 28 makes contact with the inclined profile 26 of the member 22 asshown in FIGURE 2. When this occurs further lateral sliding of thesupport is prevented and during further forward movement of the chockthe latter is caused to move in an uphill direction due to the roller 28follow- ,7 3 7 ing the inclined profile 26 of the member 22. It will beobserved, see FIGURE 3, that as the chock moves uphill so also does theanchorage 23 thereon of the centralising member 21, 22 so as to bringsaid centralising member towards its normal position at right-angles tothe conveyor. The uphill movement is assisted by the inclination of therams 11 and 12.

The forward movement of the support is continued until the rams arefully retracted, the \centralising member 21 and 22 is square with theconveyor and the complete chock is in a position directly in front ofthe position from which it has been moved, ie it is neither uphill ordownhill of its original datum line. The final position is the advancingmovement of the chock is shown in FIG- URE 4 and when the chock hasreached this position it is re-secured between floor and roof ready forthe next cut of the coal face to be made.

It will be appreciated from the above description that the setting ofthe clevis 24, 25 of the centralising member 21, 22 on the conveyoranchorage 20 predetermines the forward position of the chock. By anappropriate setting the chock may be moved straight-ahead, downhill oruphill during its forward travel and brought to rest wherever requiredwithin reasonable limits.

During operation the chock centre line should be kept parallel with theconveyor and in order to make this possible both arms are equipped forindependent operation.

It will be appreciated that one chock or support constructed as abovedescribed may be positioned at the linermost or downhill end of a row ofsupports on an incline and may be adapted to prevent or correct anydownhill movement of the support-s above it.

I claim:

1. A mine roof support comprising a base member supporting verticallyextensible and retractable props, a pressure fluid ram means pivotallymounted on said base member at one end, the other end having pivotedattachment means for securement to an anchorage whereby said ram meansis operative, when supplied with pressure fluid, to advance the basememberhorizontally toward the auchorage, an aligningdevice having a pairof telescopic elements, one of said telescopic elements being pivotallyattached to said base member and the other of said telescopic elementsbeing provided with securing means slideably mounted relative to saidattachment means, and cooperating inclined track means and followermeans, said inclined track means facing laterally and being mounted onone of said aligning device and 'base member and engagcable with saidfollower means, said follower means being mounted on the other of saidaligning device and base member, whereby when the aligning device istelescoped, during advance of the support base member, said track meansand the follower means co-operate to correct lateral movement of thesupport as resulting from inclination of a mine floor.

2. A mine roof support according to claim 1 wherein said laterallyfacing inclined track means is mounted on one of said telescopicelements and said follower means is mounted on said base member.

3. A mine roof support according to claim 1 wherein is additionallyprovided means pivotally mounting said ram means on the base member forlateral angular adjustment of the ram means.

4. A mine roof support according to claim 1 wherein is additionallyprovided a tie 'bar, means adjusta'bly se curing said attachment deviceof the ram means and said securing means of said other telescopicelement to said tie bar so as to permit their securement inpredetermined spaced relationship.

5. A mine roof support according to claim 1 wherein said pressure fluidram means includes a pair of rams spaced apart by said base member onwhich they are mounted, said aligning device being located between aidrams.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,644,311 7/53Malloy 61-452 EARL I. WITMER, Primary Examiner.

1. A MINE ROOF SUPPORT COMPRISING A BASE MEMBER SUPPORTING VERTICALLYEXTENSIBLE AND RETRACTABLE PROPS, A PRESSURE FLUID RAM MEANS PIVOTALLYMOUNTED ON SAID BASE MEMBER AT ONE END, THE OTHER END HAVING PIVOTEDATTACHMENT MEANS FOR SECUREMENT TO AN ANCHORAGE WHEREBY SAID RAM MEANSIS OPERATIVE, WHEN SUPPLIED WITH PRESSURE FLUID, TO ADVANCE THE BASEMEMBER HORIZONTALLY TOWARD THE ANCHORAGE, AN ALIGNING DEVICE HAVING APAIR OF TELESCOPIC ELEMENTS, ONE OF SAID TELESCOPIC ELEMENTS BEINGPIVOTALLY ATTACHED TO SAID BASE MEMBER AND THE OTHER OF SAID TELESCOPICELEMENTS BEING PROVIDED WITH SECURING MEANS SLIDEANLY MOUNTED RELATIVETO SAID ATTACHMENT MEANS, AND COOPERATING INCLINED TRACK MEANS ANDFOLLOWER MEANS, SAID INCLINED TRACK MEANS FACING LATERALLY AND BEINGMOUNTED ON ONE OF SAID ALIGNING DEVICE AND BASE MEMBER AND ENGAGEABLEWITH SAID FOLLOWER MEANS, SAID FOLLOWER MEANS BEING MOUNTED ON THE OTHEROF SAID ALIGNING DEVICE AND BASE MEMBER, WHEREBY WHEN THE ALIGNINGDEVICE IS TELESCOPED, DURING ADVANCE OF THE SUPPORT BASE MEMBER, SAIDTRACK MEANS AND THE FOLLWER MEANS CO-OPERATE TO CORRECT LATERAL MOVEMENTOF THE SUPPORT AS RESULTING FROM INCLINATION OF A MINE FLOOR.